Gigapixels

Gigapixel photographs are images with a resolution of more than 1 billion pixels, making it possible to image a large monumental object, e.g. a façade, altarpiece, stained glass window, polychrome or tapestry, even in conditions where the object is at a height and it is not possible to photograph it straight on (dismantling or setting up a platform).

The end result is that we can view the subject in its entirety, while being able to zoom in and see any detail of the object being photographed, ‘like under a magnifying glass’.

The process of taking them will involve taking the component photographs using a camera – a digital SLR equipped with a telephoto lens and a specialised automatic panoramic head. Once the frame area is programmed, the head will automatically take a series of component photographs.

Post-production will consist of colour and density editing of the RAW files and export of the constituent images to a specialist panorama creation programme, which, on the basis of the content of the images and using data from the position of the panoramic head during the shooting of the individual constituent images, will create an image in a form enabling the correction of the correct geometric parameters (levels and verticals), density tonality and elimination of errors arising during automatic merging of the images.

The image thus prepared will be rendered into a graphics file. The final editing, consisting of the removal of minor errors of photo merging, colour tone and density correction, will be carried out in a standard graphics processing programme, on a computer with a calibrated monitor, then the finished gigpixel photograph will be exported to a format that will allow it to be viewed in a dedicated browser for virtual presentation.